Michel Ordener

Michel Ordener (2 September 1755-30 August 1811) was a general of the French Republic and the French Empire during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars.

Biography
Michel Ordener was born on 2 September 1755 in L'Hopital, Moselle, in the Kingdom of France to a commoner family. He joined the Prince of Conde's regiment at the age of 18 and in 1792 was made a Lieutenant at the start of the French Revolutionary Wars. During the Italian Campaign of 1796, he served under Napoleon Bonaparte and assisted in the Liberation of Milan from the Austrian Empire, and encircled the Austrians at Pavia after crossing the Adda River in northern Italy. He also took part in the Second Coalition war of 1799-1800, where he was able to defeat the Allies at the Second Battle of Zurich in Switzerland.

During the Napoloenic Wars, Napoleon made him a commander in the elite Imperial Guard of the French Empire, and led an energetic and opportune charge at the Battle of Austerlitz in 1805. However, Napoleon noted that he looked tired and correctly predicted that he would only last five or six more years before dying. He was the supervisor of Empress Josephine de Beauharnais' horses while in semi-retirement and died in Compeigne on 30 August 1811.